Our Auckland Letter.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3733, 11 December 1880, Page 2

Our Auckland Letter.

(FEOM OUB OWN COBBEBPONDENT.) Auckland, Last night. ANOIHBB ALLEGED NATIVE JOB. What appears to be a land swindle came tp me from a well-known source at Taranaki. The facts briefly are these :— A well-known settler in that favored place daring the last general elections made matters smooth for one of the Bitting members, and oa the principle of " pr* quo " that thundering member had to do something in return, and aiding in the matter the settler has managed to secure , the freehold of about forty thousand acres of splendid native land at the sum of* about two shillings and sixpence per acre. The consequence is that one man and his " helpers ' will no deubt share the spoil, whilst hundreds of other less fortunate human beings will hare ,to go cap or hat in hand to shepherd kings and shepherd stock owners to get a day's work on a property, a portion of which might in the ordinary course hare been got for himself if there was not so much land - sharking in rogue , amongst friends who. can pnt the Haw in defiance and carry out their own ends. The whole facts my correspondent writes are in the hand of Mr tßallance, M.H.R. for Whangarei, and will no doubt be heard of when the House meets. The local organ of the Government, my friend also states, is of opinion that the pommissioner of Annuities should distribute all the Government advertise ments, but should he handle the business in the way that Mr Seffern exercises his power in 'granting free passes by the steamer Hinemoa it would take an. increase in the amount of rate levied under the Property Assessment Act to keep the Dr. and Cr. of the steamer's | accounts to balance at the end of each ; financial year.' BBEACHES OF THE LICENSING ACTS. In these hard times Sunday trading in hotels is a very delicate undertaking.

During the last few months many pub* licans and sinners were fined for breaches of the Act committed on the Sabbath, but in most cases the, informations were laid by the police through the intelligence of others, and owing to the hotelkeepers themselves not exercising more caution on the Lord's Day. Whilst the law remains as at present, of course convictions for Sunday trading will follow, but as the AttorneyGeneral contemplates a number of swetp* ing alterations and amendments in the ordinances, why cannot hotels be allowed to open a short time on Sunday afternoons and in the evenings. Such an alteration is a necessity. It would decrease drunkenness, and afford reasonable opportunities for those whose inclinations were so shaped to go and have their drop or take their supplies in a very limited time. Of curse, there are hundreds of people in our midst bitterly opposed to the amendments indicated, but they may rest assured that the feeling is daily increasing in the direction of allowing hotels to be opened at certain fixed times on Sundays. The experience of sister colonies favors Sunday trading on certain conditions, and hold that the statistics of crime since it was allowed and sanctioned in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobartown, and other large cities all go to show that the morals of the people are very much better. Sunday openings of hotels should hire a trial. „ ' V- J